


Love and Other Planets

by blxnktae



Category: A Pink (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Astronomy, Basketball, Bullying, F/M, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-15
Updated: 2016-04-15
Packaged: 2018-06-02 07:53:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6558358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blxnktae/pseuds/blxnktae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kim Taehyung is president of the Astronomy Club, Park Jimin is captain of the basketball team, and Jeon Jungkook is so annoying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

“Did you know there are approximately 400 billion starts in just the Milky Way Galaxy?”

“That’s cool, Taehyung,” Jimin said, keeping his eyes on the road.

“Did you know stars are made of plasma which is held together by it’s own gravity?” Taehyung asked enthusiastically.

“Fascinating.”

“Did you know-“

“Kim Taehyung,” Jimin said, cutting him off. “If you tell me one more of your fucking astronomy facts I’ll make you walk the rest of the way to school.”

Taehyung stopped talking and looked at Jimin with a blank expression before continuing to thumb through his new addition of Space Weekly, unfazed.

Taehyung and Jimin’s senior year had started a week ago and the two had already fallen into their familiar routine. Jimin would pick Taehyung up every morning for their usually quiet car ride to school. Taehyung really hated mornings and Jimin had been friends with him long enough to know it wasn’t in his best interests to get on his best friend’s bad side so early in the day.

Monday’s, however, were a different story. Taehyung, who’s favorite space magazine came out that day, would sit happily in the front seat spitting out random space facts while a slightly annoyed Jimin wished his nerdy best friend would shut the hell up.

“Hey, tomorrow I’ll pick you up at 6:30 instead of 6:45, okay?” Jimin looked hesitantly over at Taehyung.

Taehyung raised his brow questioningly, “Why?”

“Well,” began Jimin, “my mom’s old friend from college just moved in to our neighborhood this weekend and her son is going to start school with us tomorrow. My mom wants me to drive him to school and show him around on the first day, y’ know?”

“Is he in our grade?” Taehyung asked.

Jimin waited a few seconds before saying, “Actually, he’s a sophomore.”

“Seriously, Jimin? A sophomore? We have to hang out with a little kid?”

For some reason Taehyung had always hated underclassman. Although before this year he was technically considered one himself, but he didn’t like to dwell on that. 

“First of all, he’s not a little kid, he’s almost 16. Second of all, we don’t have to hang out with him. I just have to show him around,” Jimin reiterated, pulling into a parking space.

Taehyung rolled his eyes and got out of the car. He’d been friends with Jimin long enough to know that his best friend would end up dragging him into helping with the sophomore one way or another.

\--

Taehyung walked in to his homeroom class and took his seat at the front of the room. He was very involved with his studies and worked hard to be at the top of his class. Often times other students would ask him to tutor them, especially if they needed help with math or science. He didn’t mind helping the academically challenged; he was a nice guy after all, but some of these people really had no idea what was going on, it was a complete miracle that they could even find their way to class everyday. Taehyung recalled one classmate who he spent 20 minutes with trying to explain the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox, and he still didn’t understand.

School that day was relatively uneventful. Taehyung spent some time in the library planning topics to discuss at the upcoming Astronomy Club meeting on Friday. He was finally president of the club after being a dedicated member for the past three years. Unfortunately, he had run without realizing that being president required effort beyond the love of astronomy. Now he was stuck trying to come up with ideas to meet the club’s community service requirement.

At the end of the day, Taehyung went to the gym to meet Jimin. Basketball tryouts were on Thursday and, being team captain, Jimin had lots of planning to do. Since he was also Taehyung’s ride home, Taehyung was forced to sit patiently in the gym until Jimin was ready to leave.

They hadn’t been driving for more than five minutes when Jimin said, “I saw you talking to Eunji today at lunch.”

“Yeah,” replied Taehyung. “She was asking me when the next astronomy club meeting was.”

“Oh.”

“What do you mean ‘Oh’?”

 

“Nothing. Just, don’t you think its kind of weird someone as popular as Eunji wants to join astronomy club?” Jimin asked.

“Not really, space is pretty interesting, and clubs look good on college apps,” Taehyung answered while looking through his phone.

Jimin sighed and looked over at Taehyung. “I guess. But someone like Eunji doesn’t talk to just anybody,” Jimin joked, cracking a smile. “You know, I heard from Namjoon that she talks about you a lot. Maybe you should ask her out.”

“Why would I do that?” he asked, surprised.

“Um, maybe because Eunji is hot and popular. It’s sort of a miracle she likes a nerd like you.”

“Whatever, Jimin,” Taehyung said, shooting the other a dirty look. “I’m just not interested. I really want to focus on school this year.”

 

Jimin sighed. “You’re always focused on school. Come on, its your senior year. Don’t you want to have at least dated one person before we start college?”

Taehyung ignored Jimin’s comments as he got out of the car. It wasn’t as though he was opposed to dating; he just didn’t really see the point. Why would he want to date some girl he barley knew? Especially one in standard math.

Jimin rolled the window down and called out, “Don’t forget to be ready at 6:30 tomorrow. And try to be nice!” Taehyung waved his hand dismissively as he closed the front door.

\--

The next morning Taehyung woke up abruptly, he quickly looked at his phone to check the time. 6:20. Shit. Jimin was going to kill him. He jumped out of bed and grabbed his uniform before heading to bathroom to take the quickest shower of his life.

It was 6:32 when Taehyung ran out of the front door, hair dripping wet and blazer half way on, to find Jimin’s car was already parked at the end of his driveway.

In the process of putting the other half of his blazer on, Taehyung opened the passenger door. “Sorry I’m la-“ he stopped mid-sentence when he noticed a figure sitting in his seat.

“Oh,” Taehyung mumbled, taking his new seat in the back. "I didn’t realize that I had to call dibs on the front seat.”

“Taehyung don’t be rude,” Jimin said, giving his best friend a warning look. “This is Jungkook. Jungkook, this is my idiot best friend Taehyung.”

“I’m the idiot? I think our GPA’s would say otherwise.”

Jungkook laughed before saying politely, “Nice to meet you, Taehyung. Sorry about taking your seat.” He finished with a small bow.

This kids was already getting on Taehyung’s nerves. Ignoring the friendly gesture, he decided to spend the rest of the car ride to school catching up on the sleep he could have been having if Jimin hadn’t needed to show Jungkook around.

\--

When they arrived at school, Jimin immediately began pointing everything out to Jungkook. Taehyung watched quietly as he spoke excitedly about classes, teachers, and other students. Jimin even informed him about who founded the school and in what year. When did Jimin learn all this?

After what seemed like ages, Jimin decided it was a good time to take Jungkook to the guidance office to pick up his schedule. He practically snatched it out of Jungkook’s hands when he emerged from the room a few minutes later.

“Woah, Jungkook,” Jimin exclaimed. “You didn’t tell me you were a genius.”

This caught Taehyung’s attention. Jungkook, a genius? No way this annoying kid was smart. “What do you mean he’s a genius?

Jimin ignored Taehyung’s question, “I’m not in advanced classes so it looks like Taehyung’s going to be more help showing you around than I will. “

Jimin was right, much to Taehyung’s disappointment. Apparently, at his old school, Jungkook had been known for being ridiculously smart. He had even tested out of several classes which meant he ended up with a mostly upperclassman schedule. Including, AP Calculus with Taehyung. Wonderful.

Taehyung sighed and decided he should show Jungkook to their classroom. He walked quickly, not caring to listen to Jungkook’s meager attempts at small talk. They arrived to class a little before the bell. Taehyung took his normal seat at the front of the room and left Jungkook alone to deal with informing the teacher that he was a new student. He watched as Mr. Choi pointed to the empty seat beside Taehyung, and Jungkook made his way over with a smile.

“Hey!” Jungkook began, cheerfully. “The teacher said I could sit here next to you!”

Taehyung gave him a closed smile and thumbs up before turning back to last night’s homework. There was one problem he just couldn’t figure out…

“Do you need help with that?”

This kid seriously needed to learn when he wasn’t wanted.

“I’m fine.”

“It’s really just a simple limit equation, you just have to plug in-“

“I said I was fine,” Taehyung snapped. He was already irritated and first period hadn’t even begun.

Jungkook nodded seemingly unfazed and turned to face the front of the room waiting for Mr. Choi to begin class.

\--

Taehyung spent the first half of the day, not so subtlety, ignoring Jungkook’s friendly advances. He explicitly remembered Jimin saying that he would be the one showing the new kid around, which was not the current situation.

“Jimin told me you were first in your class, that’s pretty impressive,” Jungkook complimented.

“Yeah.”

“I’m glad I have classes with someone I know. I think it would be kind of intimidating to be the only sophomore in a class full of seniors on my first day, “ Jungkook laughed.

He couldn’t actually think they were going to become friends.

\--

Taehyung found Jimin and Jungkook already seated at their usual table near the back on the cafeteria for lunch. He took a seat next to Jimin and began to eat quietly.

“What took you so long?”

Taehyung swallowed his food and replied, “I had to turn in some extra credit for English.”

“You’re such a fucking nerd.”

He slapped Jimin on the shoulder, feigning annoyance. He looked up and saw Jungkook watching the scene, amused. God, even when he wasn’t talking he was irritating.

“So, Jungkook,” Jimin began. “How’s your first day been?”

Jungkook smiled, “Great, everyone’s been really nice and welcoming.”

Taehyung resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

Just as Jimin was about to interrogate Jungkook further, a familiar girl slid into the empty seat next to Taehyung.

“Taehyung Oppa! Is there an Astronomy Club meeting this Friday?” Eunji asked, clinging to Taehyung’s arm.

He was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable by the way Jimin was looking at him. Taehyung awkwardly confirmed that there was a meeting on Friday, as he tried to subtly wriggle out of Eunji’s surprisingly firm grasp. She gave a small squeeze before finally releasing Taehyung’s arm.

“Can’t wait to see you Friday!” Eunji said, a coy smile on her lips before skipping back to a table at the other end of the lunchroom where most of the popular kids sat.

“She seems nice,” Jungkook stated.

“Yeah hear that, Tae?” Jimin said, eyeing Taehyung. “She seems nice.”

“I never said she wasn’t nice,” he mumbled in response.

Jimin pressed further, “Then why don’t you ask her out?”

“Oh, you like her?” Jungkook said a little too loudly.

Taehyung shushed him. “No! I don’t like her! And I’m not interested!”

He hastily packed up his backpack and left the lunchroom. Leaving a bewildered Jimin and Jungkook behind.

\--

The episode at lunch was long forgotten by the time they left school that day. Taehyung took his rightful place in the front seat of the car while Jimin began talking excitedly about the upcoming basketball tryouts.

“Now that the seniors from last year graduated we have a lot of open spots,” Jimin rambled. “I’m hoping there’s a big turn out at tryouts on Thursday.” He turned around to face Jungkook in the back seat, “Are you any good at sports?”

“You could say that,” Jungkook replied. “I was on the varsity team at my old school.”

Jimin’s eyes lit up. “Why didn’t you mention that before?! You have to try out.”

Jungkook, of course, agreed. Taehyung huffed, why didn’t Jimin ask him to try out?

“Taehyung,” Jimin said reading his mind. “Don’t act insulted that I didn’t ask you to try out. You and I both know what happened last time you tried to play basketball.”

He shot Jimin a dirty look. No one was ever going to let him live that one down. It was 8th grade for god’s sake! The concussion wasn’t even that bad!

\--

Jungkook, unsurprisingly, was a natural. Taehyung found this out while sitting high up in the bleachers, far away from any stray balls, watching Jimin conduct tryouts on Thursday. The sophomore could outshoot the senior players that had been on varsity for as long as Taehyung could remember. He made the veteran players look like a college team while he was in the NBA.

Apart from his apparent lack of flaws, Taehyung still didn’t understand what the big deal was about Jungkook. Sure, he was kind of handsome, kind of smart, and kind of athletic. (Ok, maybe, he was very smart, very handsome, and very athletic.) But, other than that, he just wasn’t all that special. Plus, Taehyung thought it was extremely unfair for someone to be blessed with both brains and athleticism. He certainly was only blessed with the former. Maybe he was being too harsh on Jungkook, he seemed like a nice kid.

Nah.

Jimin blew the whistle, pulling Taehyung out of his thoughts in time to see Jungkook make his tenth free throw in a row. Taehyung rolled his eyes. Show off.

He and Jimin made their way over to the bleachers where Taehyung was waiting. Jungkook was dripping in an unnatural amount of sweat.

“You look disgusting,” Taehyung commented and Jungkook only shrugged wiping his face with a towel.

The three boys walked to the parking lot, Taehyung looking out of place beside the two jocks. He really needed to make some new friends that were more his speed, preferably better smelling ones.

“Jungkook, is there anything you aren’t good at?” Jimin asked after they had gotten into the car.

Jungkook didn’t say anything in reply, only laughing humbly.

“I’m serious,” Jimin continued. “Before I met you, Taehyung was the smartest person I knew.”

“Fuck you, Jimin,” Taehyung shot back.  


\--

“Taehyung, sweetie, we’re so proud of you!” his mother cooed that night at dinner when Taehyung showed his parents his most recent test grade. “Right, Honey?”

“Yes, of course,” his father agreed absentmindedly, scrolling through his emails.

Taehyung smiled slightly and took another bite of his dinner. Sometimes he wished his father would pay more attention to his achievements. Approval from him meant the world to Taehyung, and he had a hard time understanding why his father couldn’t stop working long enough to properly congratulate him on even the smallest accomplishments.

When Taehyung was in elementary school he had been apart of the school’s Robotics Club. He and a select few of his other overachieving classmates made up a team of robot builders who would compete with various other elementary school teams for designing the most advanced robot. 

Taehyung loved being in the club, he was the team leader and was constantly being praised by his teachers over how unbelievably smart he was. He led his team to win competition after competition until they were going to compete in the national competition of elementary school robot building.

10-year-old Taehyung had never worked harder on anything in his life; there was no way the school competing against him could win.

Excited and proud, Taehyung had invited his father to his national competition. He dismissively had agreed to come, barley listening when his son had invited him, but Taehyung didn’t mind. A promise was a promise after all in his eyes.

The day of the competition and Taehyung and his team were more than prepared to battle. Unsurprisingly, their robot had defeated the other in less than 10 minutes. 

After giving as well of a developed of an acceptance speech a 4th grader could muster, Taehyung went searching for his father in the crowd of spectators. He shortly found his mom alone in the back of the room arguing on her cell phone, when she saw Taehyung she quickly hung up.

Taehyung spent the whole car ride home in tears because “daddy had promised he’d be there” and “lying is against the rules.”

From that moment on Taehyung had felt like he would never be good enough for his father, but he never stopped trying to impress him.

His mother was the exact opposite of his father, maybe paying Taehyung a little too much attention. She made sure she had been at every one of his school events to support him and cheer him on. She always wanted to know where Taehyung was going, what he was doing, and whom he was with. Most of the time it didn’t really bother him, its not like he was doing anything wrong. Taehyung was always either hanging out with Jimin, studying, or looking through his telescope.

Taehyung excused himself from the dinner table and made his way upstairs to his room. His walls were dark blue and covered in posters of constellations, planets, and galaxies. In the corner by the window was his telescope; his parents had bought it for him last Christmas after constant begging for months. It was by far his favorite possession.

Crawling under his Star Wars comforter, Taehyung went to bed anticipating tomorrow’s Astronomy Club meeting.

\--  


Much to Taehyung’s dismay, that afternoon did not go as planned.

He was sitting at the front of the room as usual running the meeting for the handful of students who actually attend Astronomy Club, when a familiar wide-eyed boy walked through the door.

“Why are you here?” Taehyung asked coldly.

“I heard you telling Eunji about it at lunch the other day and thought it sounded interesting!” Jungkook replied, apparently missing the intended unfriendliness in Taehyung’s clipped tone.

He took a seat in a vacant desk looking expectantly at Taehyung to continue the meeting.

Taehyung was still feeling too bothered to continue. Out of all the clubs to join at this school, why did it have to be his? Jungkook was already weaseling himself into every other aspect of his life. “Isn’t there basketball practice today?”

“Nope. Jimin decided to have Friday’s off so he could go to tutoring.”

That’s right. Taehyung had completely forgotten about Jimin’s weekly tutoring sessions. While his best friend was one of the nicest and most loyal people Taehyung had ever met, he was definitely not someone people would consider smart.

“Well, alright,” Taehyung sighed. It seemed as if Jungkook was there to stay. “I guess we should get back to the meeting.”

Before long the members launched into a heated debate about black holes lead by Jungkook, who naturally knew an impressive amount about space. This had Taehyung conversing with the sophomore as he would any other member of the club. He was so enthralled with the conversation that he momentarily forgot he was supposed to hate the other.

An hour and a half later and he had completely forgotten.

Taehyung and Jungkook headed to the parking lot to meet Jimin. They were still laughing over the idiotic comment the forever-awkward Seokjin had made about aliens when they reached the car.

“Look at you two,” Jimin said smiling. “You actually look like friends.”

Jungkook frowned, “Hyung, we are friends.”

Jimin looked at Taehyung who just shrugged and said, “The kid knows a lot about space.”

On the way home Jimin suggested, since apparently now they were all friends, that the three of them go see a movie sometime.

“Sounds good to me,” Jungkook readily agreed.

Taehyung nodded his head in agreement. His mom would probably be thrilled that he would actually be getting out of his room instead of playing videogames all day with the lights off.

“Sounds good to me, too.”

\--

 

Taehyung woke up at 1:00pm and started getting ready almost immediately. He didn’t have to meet Jimin and Jungkook at the movies until 7:00 tonight, but he figured that if he got ready now then he’d have the rest of the evening to play videogames.

After he got out of the shower, he decided to style his hair. Taehyung never did this, usually opting for his naturally stick straight style. He didn’t understand how girls did it everyday. It took too long and was really annoying. But his mom always said it looked good on him and he had plenty of time today, so he decided to go for it.

When his hair was styled to his satisfaction, Taehyung went to pick out his clothes. He didn’t put much effort into his wardrobe since his school required uniforms so his outfit choices were limited at best. He spent about 10 minutes, or what Taehyung considered eternity, looking through his closet before finally deciding on his favorite t-shirt and jeans.

Taehyung decided to leave his house now and get something to eat before the movie. Getting ready had taken him longer than he had expected and if he started playing video games now he ran the risk of losing track of time, missing the movie completely.

When he came down stairs his mother immediately commented on his appearance. “Don’t you look nice? Are you going on a date or something?”

How bad did he look regularly for his mom to think he was going on a date?

“No, mom,” Taehyung answered. “I’m just going to see a movie with some friends.”

“That sounds fun. I’ll drive you.”

By drive, his mother had really meant interrogate. The entire ride there she was relentless in asking Taehyung every detail about the night. What time did the movie start? When did it end? Did he need a ride home or was Jimin going to drive him? Who exactly was this Jungkook? Why has he never been mentioned before?

Taehyung couldn’t get out of the car fast enough, practically jumping out the door before the car stopped moving.

\--

“Can I have two tickets?” Taehyung asked when he returned to the theater after getting something to eat. Jimin was always paying for him and Taehyung figured it would be nice of him to pay for his friend for once. He found a bench in front of the theater and decided to look at his phone while he waited for his friends to arrive.

There was still no sign of either Jimin or Jungkook and Taehyung had already finished playing every game on his phone. The movie was about to start and they still needed to get inside and go find their seats. Taehyung decided he should call Jimin. He better not have forgotten.

“Sorry, Tae,” Jimin said when he answered. “My mom is making stay home and study tonight since I failed my last math test.”

“But I already bought your ticket!” Taehyung said exasperated. “I wanted to pay you back since you always cover me.”

“How thoughtful,” Jimin replied. “Why don’t you just give it to Jungkook?”

This was going to be so awkward. How was he supposed to sit though the whole movie with just Jungkook? Especially after buying his ticket? Just because he no longer completely hated the kid didn’t mean he wasn’t still annoying as fuck.

Taehyung’s thoughts were stopped there when he saw a familiar figure jogging his way.

“Hey, Hyung,” Jungkook called, heading to the ticket counter slightly out of breath from his jog. “Sorry I’m late, let me go get my ticket.”

“You don’t have to buy a ticket.” Taehyung shifted his feet awkwardly. “I, um, already bought an extra one.”

“Hyung! That’s so nice of you!” Jungkook said accepting the ticket in Taehyung’s outstretched hand. When had he started calling him ‘Hyung’? “Where’s Jimin?”

“His mom made him stay home and study,” Taehyung replied as the two made their way to the theater.

Jungkook nodded, then asked, “Did you style your hair?”

\--

About 20 minutes later and Taehyung was completely engrossed in the movie. The initial awkwardness he had felt had seized to exist and all his attention lied in the amazing graphics of the sci-fi movie in front of him.

The space ship on the screen had nearly crashed into the neighboring planet when Taehyung felt a slight nudge in his side.

Slightly annoyed, he glanced over at Jungkook who was pointing at a couple seated a few rows ahead of them.

“Isn’t that the guy from astronomy club?”

It was hard to tell in the dark but with some squinting, Taehyung realized that it was Seokjin who appeared to be on a date. That poor girl apparently hadn’t realized how hopelessly awkward Seokjin was.

Suddenly Taehyung had an idea. “Hey, Jungkook,” he whispered. “Let’s try and hit the back of his head.”

“Hyung, that so mean,” Jungkook laughed.

“Don’t worry about it, he’s weird.”

Seconds later the piece of popcorn had successfully hit its target.

A confused Seokjin whipped his head around to try and locate his attacker, but Jungkook and Taehyung were too quick, ducking behind the seat in front of them before he had a chance to get a good look at him.

This continued a couple more times until a stray piece of popcorn hit the back of Seokjin’s date.

Unfortunately, Taehyung didn’t duck fast enough that time.

Seokjin, as casually as his awkward demeanor would allow, rose from his seat and started making his way over to where Taehyung and Jungkook were seated.

Taehyung grabbed hold of Jungkook’s arm and pulled him toward the exit, leaving Seokjin behind in the process. They emerged from the theater, out of breath from the combination of laughing and running.

“Did you see the look on his face?” Jungkook said, still laughing.

Taehyung smiled, hanging out with Jungkook wasn’t as bad as he had feared. Jimin, for one, would have never gone along with one of his pranks. He was always telling Taehyung that they were lame. But here Jungkook was, laughing at his stupid prank like it was the best thing in the world. It made him like the sophomore boy a little bit more.

In that moment, Taehyung noticed he was still holding onto Jungkook’s arm. He quickly let go, awkwardly cleared his throat.

They spent the bus ride home chatting about insignificant things like school, basketball, and astronomy. But it wasn’t even a bit boring. Taehyung ignored the way his face reddened when Jungkook said, “Bye, Hyung! I had a lot of fun,” as he got off at the stop before his.

Taehyung thought that he must have caught a cold.  


 

\--

The weeks following the movies seemed to fly by for Taehyung. It was now winter and snow fell from the sky daily.

Just as the seasons changed, so did Taehyung’s opinions on Jungkook. The two had actually become close friends. His math skills no longer annoyed him, his knowledge of space impressed him, and instead of seeming immature, Taehyung just viewed it as Jungkook acting cute.

Calculus with Jungkook became Taehyung’s favorite class. Whenever he found a problem difficult, Jungkook would be more than happy to help him. He had to admit, derivatives seemed much easier now. It was also nice to have someone to talk to other than Jimin. As much as he liked Jimin, he had trouble discussing topics such as the pros and cons of nuclear energy with him. 

One Friday afternoon, after Astronomy Club and Jimin’s tutoring session, Jimin suggested that the three of them get something to eat. Although it was freezing outside and a thin layer of snow covered the sidewalk, the boys trudged 2 blocks to the nearest ramyun shop.

There were only a few empty tables left by the time they arrived since the restaurant was popular among students, especially now that it was winter and the shop offered food and warmth in this frigid weather.

They ordered at the counter and Taehyung tried to ignore the fact that the way the waitress kept flirting with Jungkook was getting on his nerves. He couldn’t tell which annoyed him more; the fact that she was shamelessly flirting with the younger boy, or that she didn’t give Taehyung the time of day.

He decided to go look for a place to sit and found a spot far in the back corner against the wall. Jungkook sat down beside him while Jimin went to go pick up their food and started up a conversation.

“You’ve been styling your hair different these past few weeks,” he said to Taehyung.

“You noticed?” Taehyung replied with surprise. It was true that he had been styling his hair differently since he and Jungkook had gone to see that movie a few weeks ago, but he hadn’t expected anyone to actually notice. Especially Jungkook.

“Of course I noticed!” Jungkook paused. “Is it weird that I noticed? Sorry, I just thought it looked nice.”

Taehyung could feel his face heating up from the attention and was thankful that Jimin had returned to the table with their ramyun.

“Jungkook, we really need to practice hard if we want win next week,” Jimin started.

The entire school had been talking non-stop about their last game of the season, which also landed on the Friday before finals. Jimin seemed like he was going to explode with anxiety and Taehyung made sure he took every opportunity to tease him about it.

“The only way the team could get any better is if you grew a few more inches,” Taehyung teased.

Jimin rolled his eyes and continued talking about what strategies to use against the other team.

Getting sick of listening to basketball terms he didn’t understand, Taehyung decided to start his own conversation. “Did you guys know that the lunar eclipse is only 20 days away?”

“Really?” Jungkook replied, interested.

Taehyung smiled to himself, happy that he had successfully stolen back the conversation.

Jimin chimed in, “On December 30th? Isn’t that your birthday?”

Taehyung simply nodded, never one to make a big deal out of his birthday, and robotically lowered his chopsticks to take another bite of ramyun only to be met with an empty bowl. Had he seriously already finished the whole bowl?

Jungkook, who had been watching him, laughed and offered Taehyung a bite of his own.

Taehyung could feel the tips of his ears turning pink. Was Jungkook really planning on feeding him?

Jimin coughed. Jungkook was still holding out his chopsticks expectantly.

Taehyung hesitated before leaning in to take the bite. The noodles were half way into his mouth when he looked up and found himself staring into two wide brown eyes that had him forgetting how to swallow.

“Oh, my god, are you okay?” Jungkook asked looking concerned. Taehyung quickly covered his mouth to muffle his coughing fit. “I’ll get you some water!”

Taehyung watched as Jungkook got up from the table and headed to the counter, throat burning and vision blurry from the tears forming in the corners of his eyes due to the spiciness of the ramyun.

He turned and witnessed Jimin, who had just finished laughing hysterically at the scene, giving him a weird look.

“What?”

“You’re acting so weird with Jungkook today,” Jimin started to laugh again. “You’re acting like you have a crush on him or something.”

“What the fuck, Jimin?” Taehyung’s coughing fit, which had just gotten under control, returned at full force. He felt a cold ringing in his head like he had just been caught doing something he shouldn’t. “I’m not gay!”

Jimin looked surprised at his anger and put his hands up defensively, “Woah, chill, I was just kidding.”

He knew that Jimin had meant it as a joke, but for some reason he couldn’t control the flood of anger that had suddenly come over him.

Jungkook returned to the table with a glass of water and held it out to Taehyung. “Here,” he said smiling.

Taehyung grabbed the glass wordlessly and began to drink, feeling the cool water trickle down his throat and tried to calm down.

Jungkook continued talking, “After this do you guys want to come over and maybe play some video ga-“

“I can’t,” Taehyung cut him off mid-sentence. “My mom just texted me and told me I had to come home now.” He hoped his friends couldn’t detect his lie; his phone was still turned off and in his backpack from school earlier.

“Alright, maybe next time.”

The look on Jungkook’s face almost made him regret declining the offer, but Taehyung was feeling far too embarrassed and awkward to stick around any longer.

“Yeah, next time,” Taehyung replied, his tone softening. He picked up his backpack and headed out of the restaurant toward his house.

\--

Taehyung felt extremely uncomfortable at church that weekend. Occasionally his mom would insist on him joining her for Sunday mass, and this weekend just happened to be one of those times. He usually didn’t mind that much; he would end up falling asleep for most of the sermon anyway and only woke up for communion. He didn’t want to miss out on his wine and cracker.

This time however, Taehyung didn’t take his usual nap. His mind was instead occupied with thoughts. Well, just one thought: Jungkook.

His eyes, his voice, his laugh when Taehyung said one of his stupid science jokes.

As much as he hated to admit it to himself, the reason why he got so angry on Friday was probably because Jimin’s statement held some of truth. Maybe he did have a crush on Jungkook.

Jimin had told Taehyung once how he felt when he dated his first girlfriend back in sophomore year. Sweaty palms, accelerated heartbeat, inability to form words.

These were all things that happened when he was around Jungkook. The only difference was that Jungkook wasn’t one of the popular girls Jimin always talked about. This was Jimin’s neighbor and his close friend. This was a boy.

Taehyung ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. Church was the last place he should be contemplating his possible feelings for the sophomore.

Maybe Taehyung’s lack of sleep was making him go insane. This was all a misunderstanding.

He blamed Jimin for only trying to hook him up with girls who obviously weren’t his type. He liked Jungkook because he was smart like him and it was nice to have someone to talk to. It was natural and comfortable. Taehyung must have confused these feelings for a crush.

After coming to this realization Taehyung felt relieved and decided it was time to start his nap.

\--

Taehyung could have strangled his calc teacher on Monday morning when he said they had to work in partners.

He tried his best to avoid Jungkook’s eyes. He still wasn’t over the confusing thoughts he was having about the boy and being face to face with him only made it worse.

Before he could protest, Jungkook was sliding his desk over to Taehyung’s. He could feel Jungkook’s thigh pressing against his due to the proximity and pretended it wasn’t making him uncomfortable. Jungkook certainly didn’t seem to notice.

“Are you okay?” asked Jungkook. “You’ve been weird since this morning.”

Taehyung’s response was belated; apparently he wasn’t as good at acting casual as he thought. “I’m perfectly fine.”

He turned in his seat to take out his homework from his backpack, knocking over his water bottle in the process. Taehyung leaned down to retrieve it but instead of feeling the plastic he was expecting, he was met by Jungkook’s soft skin.

Taehyung’s hand lingered there for a few seconds. A short amount of time, but still long enough for Taehyung’s palms to start sweating and heart rate to accelerate.

He dropped the bottle and Jungkook’s hand like it was made out of fire.

“Here,” Jungkook handed him his water. His expression didn’t give away anything, but confusion; it didn’t indicate any of the awkwardness that Taehyung was currently feeling.

He snatched the bottle out of Jungkook’s hand. His taken aback expression had Taehyung immediately regret taking out his anger on the boy. It’s not like he had done anything wrong necessarily.

Taehyung turned back to his work embarrassed at how flustered Jungkook was making him.

\--

By lunchtime, things had only gotten worse. Jimin hadn’t gotten to the cafeteria early like usual because he was stuck finishing a stupid English test which resulted in a group of freshman girls claiming their usual lunch spot.

Out of any other options, the three went and sat with Jimin’s friends Namjoon and Yoongi by the rest of the basketball team. Taehyung really hated sitting by the basketball team, he always got this feeling that they didn’t really like him even though Jimin insisted that Yoongi’s face always looks like that and he was just being paranoid.

Jungkook was chatting happily with the team about the game on Friday while eating his lunch. Taehyung couldn’t help but think that he looked cute, especially the way he managed to get his lunch all over his face. He was so tempted to reach across the table to wipe it off-

 

“Come on, earth to Taehyung,” Jimin snapped his fingers in front of Taehyung’s face as Jungkook got up from the table to go get a napkin; he hadn’t even realized he’d been staring.

“Don’t even bother,” he heard Yoongi sneer. “He’s too busy making heart eyes at Jungkook to notice anything else.”

Taehyung’s head shot up in Yoongi’s direction, “What?”

“Look at how red his face is getting!” Namjoon laughed pointing at him. Taehyung thanked god twice that Jungkook wasn’t at the table right now.

“Guys cut it out. He hasn’t told anyone he’s gay yet,” Jimin’s eyes widened when he realized he misspoke and he clamped a hand over his mouth. “Oh, my god I-“

“Yet?!” Taehyung shrieked attracting looks from a few surrounding tables.

“Taehyung I didn’t mean-“

But Taehyung wasn’t listening. How could he say something like that? Did Jimin often spend time contemplating Taehyung’s sexuality? He felt angry, shocked, betrayed, but mostly ashamed.

He could see Jungkook returning to the table carrying his napkins. He didn’t trust himself to stick around this conversation any longer without running the risk of punching someone in the face and getting expelled.

In a fit of blind rage Taehyung leapt up from the table, completely ignoring Jimin’s endless string of apologies, and walked away. And he kept walking until he was halfway across the cafeteria standing in front of a table of girls looking up at him with questioning eyes, but Taehyung didn’t notice, he was focused on one in particular.

“Let’s go out this week.”

Eunji glanced up at him, a playful look in her eyes, and smiled, “I thought you’d never ask.”

\--

Taehyung sat comfortably in the back seat of Jimin’s car, sprawling across the entire length of the cushion idly flipping through a copy of Space Weekly. Jungkook had been surprised when he had requested the back seat, but Taehyung had kept insisting that he had a headache and wanted to lie down.  
In reality he didn’t feel like sitting anywhere near Jimin after the comment he made at lunch. If it was up to him, he wouldn’t be riding in the car at all but unfortunately his house was too far to walk.

“I still can’t believe you asked Eunji out while I was gone!” Jungkook complained. “I was only gone for like 5 minutes!”

Taehyung didn’t answer he was engrossed in an article about the discovery of a new planet. He wished he could live there instead, far away from Jimin and Jungkook.

“You said before you didn’t like her,” Jungkook continued. “What happened?”

“I never said I didn’t like her,” he mumbled quickly looking away when he accidently made eye contact with Jimin in the rearview mirror.

“Whatever you say,” Jungkook laughed as Taehyung got out of the car, his smile unleashing a swarm of butterflies in the pit of Taehyung’s stomach.

\--

Papers, pens, and textbooks littered Taehyung’s bed. He needed to start studying for exams now if he wanted to remain at the top of his class. He was annoyed at himself for not starting sooner but with everything that was going on in his life right now, Taehyung was exhausted.

His mom had picked up a new part time job claiming she was bored sitting around the house all day, leaving Taehyung to pretty much fend for himself when it came to food and laundry. This had turned into more of an inconvenience than Taehyung had originally imagined when he had assured her that he’d be perfectly fine staying home alone a few nights during the week while his dad was away on business trips and she was out at her job. In short, Taehyung had been living off microwavable ramyun and take-out for the past two weeks.

Taehyung’s attention was stolen from his literature homework when he heard a soft knock on the door.

“Come in,” Taehyung called out in slight confusion, no one was supposed to be home until dinner.

Jimin let himself in and looked at Taehyung apologetically.

“Get out,” Taehyung said, getting off of his bed.

“Tae, wait, listen-“

“How did you even get in my house?”

“We’re best friends, remember? I know where you keep the spare key.”

“Could you leave I really need to study.” Taehyung was now standing directly in front of Jimin.

“Taehyung, I’m really sorry about what I said, okay? I don’t know why that even came out of my mouth.”

For some reason this really annoyed Taehyung, “Really? You don’t know why you said it? Because it sure seems like you and your basketball friends spend a lot of time chatting about how much of a faggot I am!”

“No, it’s not like that-“

“Then what’s it like?”

“I don’t know, Taehyung!” Jimin practically shouted. “Why are you getting so pissed off? I’ve already apologized a million times, I don’t know what else you want.”

He wanted to have normal days at school, go on normal dates, and have normal conversations about girls with his friends. And he certainly didn’t appreciate the fact that his best friend seemed to be awaiting the day he comes out of the closet.

“Can you please leave?”

“Fine,” Jimin said turning to exit the room. “Have fun on your date.”

\--

There were a few words Taehyung would use to describe the date he was currently on and fun was not one of them.

He had unknowingly made the mistake of letting Eunji plan the evening and now he was stuck sitting in a small booth at an overpriced restaurant wearing clothes that were noticeably too casual.

Eunji didn’t seem to notice, she was too busy going on about the cheer team. Taehyung had tuned her out long ago like he does when Jimin goes off on one of his basketball tangents, until he heard her say a familiar name. He hated how it had the ability grab his attention so quickly.

“You and Jungkook are pretty close right?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Taehyung responded, slightly confused. He wasn’t sure where exactly this conversation was headed. “Why?”

“I really shouldn’t say,” Eunji sat up excitedly but her face turned serious, she covered her mouth and looked around as if to make sure someone from school wasn’t secretly spying on them. “But my friend has a huge crush on Jungkook. You know Naeun? She would kill me if she found out I was telling you this.”

Taehyung knew Naeun all right. She was a pretty popular cheerleader in the same year as Jungkook. Naeun was also known for dating upper classman boys so the fact that she had her eyes on the sophomore was somewhat unusual.

He didn’t really know how to respond to Eunji so he just nodded his head and continued to eat his food. Taehyung tried his best not to let his face give it away, but he was feeling slightly annoyed.

He wasn’t jealous. He wasn’t. He was just looking out for his friend and he knew that Naeun didn’t have the best reputation.

Taehyung walked Eunji home after dinner; their date had gone nicely. Eunji was nice and pretty and easy to get along with. He thought maybe he could spend the rest of senior year together with her as a couple. It would be nice to be occupied with someone other than Jungkook.

“Do you want to come in for a sec?” Eunji asked as they stood on her front porch.

“I should probably get home,” Taehyung answered. He was ready to go home and get to bed. He didn’t know what made him think it was a good idea to have a date on a school night. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“Oh, don’t worry, my parents aren’t home,” she smiled. “And I was wondering if you could give me some help on my physics homework?”

Taehyung decided that whatever she needed help with would probably only take him a few minutes anyway, he was great at physics, so he agreed and followed her up the staircase to her room.

The homework problems were simple, Taehyung didn’t really understand why she needed help with such basic material, but he continued to work each problem slowly so Eunji could follow along. 

He had finished the third problem when he noticed a hand running up his thigh. This took Taehyung by surprise, causing him to jerk his head up suddenly. Eunji took that as a queue to continue, moving on top of him so that she was straddling his lap as he sat in her desk chair.

Taehyung was far too inexperienced to know what to do in this situation. Honestly, he was feeling very awkward, especially when Eunji seductively removed her shirt revealing her lacey bra. He was frozen. He didn’t necessarily want to continue, but he wasn’t sure how to stop. 

Eunji leaned down from her position above Taehyung and captured his lips passionately with her own. At first, Taehyung didn’t know how to respond until something strange happened. When he closed his eyes, Taehyung was no longer kissing Eunji, instead he imagined Jungkook’s soft lips moving against his own.

Taehyung’s mind was elsewhere, completely swept up in the moment. He imagined it was the younger boy’s hands sliding up his back and weaving their way into his hair.

Taehyung’s breathing began to quicken as one hand slid slowly down his chest toward his growing erection. Taehyung couldn’t help but let out a moan.

“Jungkook-ah.”

Taehyung’s eyes shot open and Eunji practically fell off his lap.

“What did you just say?” She asked in disbelief, covering herself with her discarded shirt.

Taehyung was at a loss for words, “I didn’t-“

“You called me Jungkook, oh, my God.”

“I-“

“Oh, my God. Get out!” Eunji shouted angrily. “Get out of my house!”

Taehyung managed to stumble out of her house in complete shock.

\--

The door to Taehyung’s room slammed shut loud enough to alert the whole house, but he wasn’t concerned right now. He had fucked up so bad. He ran his fingers through his hair roughly and collapsed onto his bed, face planting into his pillow. Maybe he could suffocate himself and never have to see Eunji again. She was probably on the phone with her friends right now laughing at him.

Taehyung left out a frustrated yell. He shouldn’t have let his mind take over like that. Remembering is thoughts from earlier made him shudder. At this point his feelings for Jungkook were wrong but undeniable.

If Taehyung was being honest with himself, he’s liked Jungkook for a while now despite how hard he’d tried to deny it. 

Taehyung couldn’t be gay. If his parents ever found out, they’d hate him. He was going to get kicked out of the house or disowned. He’d never have a normal family. He’d never have children or grandchildren. Worst of all, he’d be disappointing his father.

He felt like he was going to cry.

Taehyung stayed in bed like this, abusing himself with worries, for hours before falling asleep with his shoes still on and homework undone.

\--

Taehyung got into Seokjin’s car the next morning looking like a complete wreck. His eyes were red and puffy with bruise-like circles appearing underneath from lack of sleep.

Driving to school with Jimin and Jungkook was no longer an option and his parents left for work too early to be able to take him, so for the past two days Taehyung had been getting rides from Seokjin. The elder seemed more than willing to help him out. One of Taehyung’s favorite things about Seokjin was how bad he was at making small talk, leaving Taehyung unbothered in the front seat for the full 15-minute drive to school.

Walking from the parking lot to his locker located on the opposite side of the campus, Taehyung felt like all eyes were on him, like everything he did could somehow be equated to the fact that he was gay.

He knew he was being paranoid for no reason but that didn’t help shake the fact that he felt like everyone inevitably knew. 

Taehyung opened his locker slowly, depositing his unfinished homework onto the top shelf. He turned around when he heard footsteps coming up behind him.

“How’d your date go last night?” Yoongi said as Namjoon stood smirking in front of Taehyung.

“He looks a little tired, don’t you think?” Namjoon quipped. “Too busy thinking about your boy Jungkook to sleep?”

Taehyung ignored them, snatching his calculus book out of his locker before slamming it shut and marching off to go find Eunji.

He found her standing by the girl’s locker room chatting with some other cheerleaders. Eunji was the second to last person in the world he wanted to see right now, the first being Jungkook, but Taehyung had to be certain she didn’t blab to anyone else.

“Eunji,” Taehyung said, trying not to sound too nervous, “can I talk to you for a second?”

She pushed off the wall she was leaning against, following Taehyung despite her obvious reluctance.

“What do you want, Taehyung?”

Taehyung looked down at his feet trying to avoid eye contact, “Have you told anyone about…” he paused, not wanting to speak the words aloud.

“About your gross crush on Jungkook?” Eunji snapped. “No, I haven’t.”

Even with Eunji still glaring at him, Taehyung felt a wave of relief, “Thank you so-“

“Don’t thank me. I’m not doing this for you,” She glared. “Do you know how embarrassing it would for me if it got out that I went on a date with a faggot?”

Taehyung stood there gaping at Eunji, he had expected her to be mad, but not straight up mean.

“Don’t you ever call me that again,” he snarled, looking straight into her eyes with the most menacing expression he could muster before brushing passed her and headed straight to class.

\--

“Hyung,” Jungkook whispered poking him with the end of his pencil, “what’s wrong?”

Calculus was awkward to say the least, but Taehyung was thankful that at least they didn’t have to work in partners.

“Nothings wrong,” Taehyung replied focusing on Mr. Choi’s lesson on inverse trig derivatives like it held the answers to all his life’s problems.

“You’re lying. You haven’t rode to school with Jimin and I since Tuesday!”

Taehyung continued to ignore Jungkook’s questions. Being next to the boy already had him blushing like mad. Whenever he looked Jungkook’s way he remembered his less than wholesome thoughts from the previous night.

“Your date was that bad, huh?” Jungkook prodded.  
“I said I’m fine!” the words came out slightly louder than Taehyung intended, but at least it got Jungkook to shut up for the rest of the period.

Taehyung spent lunch in the library under the pretense of studying for exams. In reality he had been staring at his physics textbook for the past 15 minutes thinking about how fucked he was.

It had only been two days since he last talked to Jimin and Taehyung was already missing his stupid basketball rants and lame jokes. Taehyung wasn’t even sure if he was mad at his best friend anymore; he had been right after all. But he still was bothered by the fact that Jimin somehow knew his secret before Taehyung did himself.

The worst part about Taehyung’s situation was the fact that he could never be with Jungkook. Not even because of the people at school or his family, but because Jungkook would never be able to return his feelings. He’d never see Taehyung in the same way that he saw Jungkook, like he was the most perfect person in the world. He wasn’t different like Taehyung. He wasn’t a freak.

The bell rang and Taehyung whipped his eyes on the sleeve of his blazer. The tears forming in his eyes only made him feel more embarrassed. He won’t let himself cry at school.

\--

 

It was Friday night and while the rest of the school was at the basketball game Taehyung sat in his room wallowing in self-pity.

Jungkook had asked him again in Calculus earlier that day if he would go to the game but Taehyung had dismissed it saying that he was too busy.

Too busy devouring his third sleeve of cookie dough.

Taehyung was crawling across his floor to his DVD player, ready to continue with his Star Trek marathon, when he heard his phone ring. Groaning, he got up to retrieve on the other side of his room; positive it was his mother calling again to remind him to unload the dishwasher.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Taehyung, it’s Seokjin.”

Taehyung looked at the phone in confusion he rarely ever got phone calls, except from his mom but that was only because she refused to learn how to text, “Seokjin? What’s with the phone call? You could have just texted me.”

“I did, but you didn’t answer,” Seokjin mumbled. “Anyway, do you want to go to the game with me?”

As much as he was still annoyed with Jimin, he was still his best friend and Taehyung really did want to go support him.

“Sure,” Taehyung relented. “Pick me up in 10.”

\--

The gym was packed by the time Taehyung and Seokjin arrived at the game, they had to search to find one of the only available spots off to the side of the court. Although the seats weren’t the best, his eyes found Jungkook almost immediately. 

The sophomore was sitting on the bench with the rest of the team getting what appeared to be a pep talk from Jimin. Taehyung felt awkward, and not just because he was beside Seokjin, seeing his two best friends here seemingly unbothered made him feel sort of pathetic.

Taehyung watched as Jimin finished with his chat and headed to the water cooler, Jungkook by his side.

“Taehyung, look it’s your friends!” Seokjin said, waiving vigorously in Jungkook and Jimin’s direction.

“Hyung,” Taehyung whispered harshly at Seokjin while trying to bat his hands down unsuccessfully. Jungkook was already pulling Jimin, who was eyeing Taehyung with a weary look, toward them.

“Hyung, I thought you said you weren’t coming!” Jungkook greeted cheerily, resting his hand gingerly on Taehyung’s shoulder.

Taehyung shrugged away from his touch, “I wasn’t going to but Seokjin practically begged me to come.”

“But, I didn’t—hey!” Seokjin’s sentence was cut short as Taehyung stomped down on his foot.

“Well, I’m glad you made it,” Jungkook said, smiling softly.

“Me too,” Jimin said, looking Taehyung in the eyes.

He was saved from a response when the whistle blew and the players were forced to return to the court.

Even with Taehyung’s limited knowledge of basketball he could tell that the opposing team was good. Whenever their team would score a point the opposing team would quickly counteract it, keeping them at a tie for almost the entire game.

Against such tough competitors, Taehyung could really see how skilled Jungkook was. Whenever he had the ball the opposite team became visibly tense. He had at least three players guarding him at all times.

Yoongi passed the ball to Jimin, who then passed to Jungkook. The score was tied and there was only 30 seconds left on the clock as Jungkook dribbled down the court followed closely by players from the other team. 

Jungkook positioned himself to take the shot; the ball about to leave his hands when a member from the other team’s defense knocked into him causing Jungkook to fall onto the hard court with a loud squeak.

Taehyung jumped up in surprise, but quickly sat back down, correcting himself for seeming too concerned.

“Don’t worry,” Seokjin said, placing a comforting hand on Taehyung’s shoulder, “he’s fine.”

“I’m not worried,” he replied, giving Seokjin a strange look before his eyes trained in on Jungkook. Jimin and Namjoon were leading him to the bench and Hoseok grabbed him some ice from the water cooler.

A few minutes later, the referee declared that because of the opposing team’s foul they would be getting a free throw.

Despite his minor injury Jungkook insisted that he make the shot. There wasn’t much of a protest from his teammates since it was common knowledge Jungkook had the best free throw record of the whole team.

The clock started again and Jungkook readied himself in front of the hoop. Taehyung had never felt so on edge because of a sports game in his entire life.

The ball flew through the air and right through the hoop as the time on the clock changed to zero. A perfect shot. Taehyung wouldn’t expect anything less of Jungkook, the perfect boy.

The students in the bleachers around them cheered and Taehyung found himself joining in with the celebration. He went to give Seokjin a friendly push but ended up accidentally shoving him out of his seat. He laughed as Seokjin looked up at him from the floor in annoyance.

Taehyung didn’t care, he had temporarily forgotten about his problems and was finally feeling somewhat normal again. He was about to boldly walk over to his friends and congratulate them when he noticed a figure making their way toward Jungkook.

Taehyung felt the color drain from his face as he watched Naeun stand on her toes and plant a kiss directly onto Jungkook’s lips. His whole body froze; his breath hitching in his throat. It was stupid of him to be feeling jealous right now, but also impossible not to be.

He tore his eyes away from the scene and headed toward the exit pulling Seokjin with him and out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Eunji smirking at him from the sidelines.

Taehyung deluded himself into thinking the tears that stung his eyes were solely from the bitter cold as he and Seokjin made their way to the car.

“What’s the matter?” Seokjin questioned. “Jungkook just won us the whole game! I thought you’d want to congratulate him.”

“I’m fine,” Taehyung responded dismissively. “I just feel like going home now.”

“Come on, I can tell when something is wrong with my best friend.”

“I’m your best friend?”

“Of course!”

Taehyung decided to drop it, not in the mood to try and understand Seokjin’s logic. They were halfway to the parking lot when he heard a voice calling him from behind.

“Taehyung!”

He ignored the familiar voice, picking up his pace as he went.

“Tae Tae!”

The normally cute nickname only pissed Taehyung off.

“Hyung!”

Taehyung stopped in place and whipped his head around, “What do you want?”

Jungkook seemed surprised by Taehyung’s aggressive tone, “Why are you leaving already? The team and some girls from cheer were about to go get something to eat; you guys should come!”

“That sounds fu-“

Taehyung cut off Seokjin, “I’d rather not.”

“Hyung, come on. It’ll be fun!”

“And watch you make out with your new girlfriend the whole time? No thanks.”

Jungkook narrowed his eyes, “What’s your problem lately? I thought we were passed this whole thing where I’m nice to you and then you treat me like shit.”

“I’m not treating you like sh-“

“Like hell you’re not!” Jungkook shouted angrily. Taehyung had never seen him this heated before, but he had to admit it was kind of hot, “I don’t know what’s going on between you and Jimin, but it’s not fair for you to take it out on me.”

“Taehyung, I’ll go get the car,” Seokjin said awkwardly before heading in the direction of the parking lot.

“And aren’t we friends?” Jungkook apparently wasn’t done ranting. “Why does it feel like you’re always hiding something? You can tell me when something is wrong. Don’t you trust me?”

“Why won’t anyone just leave me alone?” Taehyung was . “Mind your own fucking business and get back to your new girlfriend!”

“SHE’S NOT MY FUCKING GIRLFRIEND!”

Taehyung blinked, he hadn’t realized how close they’d gotten during their argument. Jungkook was only inches away from his face. Taehyung wasn’t thinking straight; he was in a state of anger from the argument mixed with relief from Jungkook’s last statement.

Taehyung felt himself close the distance between himself and Jungkook, lips capturing Jungkook’s in a harsh kiss. This was wrong. He shouldn’t be doing this.

He felt a firm push to his chest, breaking the kiss and also forcing Taehyung back into reality.

Taehyung covered his mouth in horror as he stared into the eyes of an equally shocked Jungkook.  
“Oh,” was the first word out of Jungkook’s gaping mouth. “Hyung, I’m sorry I-“

Taehyung turned around abruptly and started half-walking half-jogging away from the school.

He felt himself starting to hyperventilate as he stumbled down the sidewalk in no particular direction.

His incident with Eunji seemed almost laughable at this point.


	2. 2

Somehow, Taehyung found himself sitting on the park bench down the street from his house and was now fully hyperventilating. He couldn’t see past the tears in his eyes and his hands were violently shaking.

How he managed to locate Jimin’s contact in his phone was a mystery, but in what seemed like seconds his best friend was sitting beside him rubbing his back soothingly.

“It’s ok. Everything’s ok,” Jimin repeated over and over until Taehyung finally calmed down enough to speak.

Taehyung looked at Jimin with a broken expression, “Jimin I really messed up.”

“It can’t be that bad,” Jimin said pulling him into a hug. “Tell me what happened, maybe I can help.”

He really doubted there was anything Jimin could do in this situation but Taehyung still felt compelled to tell him nonetheless.

“I…IkissedJungkook,” Taehyung’s body went rigid when he felt himself being pulled into a tighter hug. He was disgusted with himself. He didn’t deserve Jimin’s kindness.

“Didn’t you hear me?!” Taehyung practically yelled shoving hard against his best friend’s chest. “I said I kissed Jungkook! I kissed a boy!”

“Taehyung-“ Jimin tried to interject but Taehyung wasn’t finished.

“You were right! I’m gay!” tears were reforming in the corners of his eyes, but this time out of anger. “I’m gay…”

“Taehyung stop. You can’t keep beating yourself up like this.”

“But, don’t you hate me? Jungkook does.”

“You’re my best friend, I could never hate you,” Taehyung was thankful that Jimin sounded sincere. “And I’m sure Jungkook doesn’t hate you either. He’s probably just… a little surprised.”

“You think so?”

“Of course! Now come on,” Jimin stood up from the bench and held his hand. “You’re staying at my house tonight.”

\--

Taehyung was so thankful he had a best friend like Jimin. After the night he’s had he really thought that Jimin had to be the nicest person on the planet. He made Taehyung dinner, let him borrow some of his clothes, and pretended to be interested while they watched Taehyung’s favorite space documentary.

It was around 3am when the two decided it was time to go to sleep. Taehyung hesitated as Jimin slipped into bed, usually when he spent the night they shared the same bed but what if Jimin thought it was weird now. Taehyung wouldn’t blame him if he did.

Jimin must have sensed his hesitation, “what are you doing just standing there? Get in the bed.”

“Are you sure? I really don’t mind sleeping on the floor.”

“Don’t be stupid Tae. You and I both know how much you hate sleeping on the floor.”

Taehyung laughed as he got in on the opposite side of the bed. Jimin was talking about the camping trip they took in 3rd grade where they two of them nearly killed each other wrestling over who would get the last bed in the cabin and who would have to sleep on the hard wood floor.

“So tell me,” Jimin began. “What is it about Jungkook that you like so much?”

“Oh my god. Do I really have to answer that?”

“I mean I’m just curious why you like him and not me.”

Taehyung shot up in bed, “What?!”

Jimin laughed, “Taehyung chill, I’m just joking. I’m way out of your league anyway.”

Taehyung scoffed as he laid back down, “please.”

“But, really, I am interested in why you like him.”

“Well, I guess it’s because he’s really smart, polite, and he’s actually really funny, and he’s really good looking! I think he could probably be a model some day. This is so embarrassing I never thought I’d be telling someone about the boy I like, I sound like such a girl,” he said covering his face.

“Nah, it’s kind of nice in a way,” Jimin paused. “But you know, Jungkook sweats a lot. Literally like gallons of sweat, it’s kind of disgusting. And you’ve seen him eat! It’s ridiculous!”

“I think it’s kind of cute,” Taehyung blushed.

“If you say so,” Jimin leaned over and turned of the light.

“Hey Jimin?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

\--

Taehyung slipped quietly into his desk Monday morning hoping to avoid any possible contact with the sophomore. If it was up to him, he would have skipped school that day but with it being exam week Taehyung didn’t have much of a choice.

Jungkook apparently didn’t feel the same way as it was already two minutes past the late bell and the desk beside Taehyung was still unoccupied.

For a moment he felt relieved, maybe he could have just one more day of pretending that the kiss never happened. That he never made such a stupid mistake. But his relief didn’t last long.

Suddenly Taehyung noticed that a lot of his classmates were staring at him then looking down at their phones. Some made faces and others just laughed. Taehyung certainly didn’t need his 4.0 GPA to figure out just what everyone was talking about. His face was turning red and he was starting to feel sick.

He couldn’t stand to sit there any longer and got up with a start, surprising a few of his classmates who were blatantly staring at him, and made his way down the hall heading toward the bathroom as quickly as possible.

It was hard enough to deal with just a few people knowing his secret but the thought of the entire school made Taehyung feel like he was going to throw up.

He pushed open the door to the bathroom while checking his phone to open a text from Jimin, almost missing the figure that was leaning against the sinks when he heard the person let out a strangled sob.

Taehyung was ready to turn around and opt for using the upstairs bathroom when he realized exactly who was crying.

Jungkook’s hands covered his face, his whole body looked like it was shaking and his hair was disheveled, sticking up in every direction.

This version of Jungkook took Taehyung entirely off guard, this was nothing like the cool composed boy in his Calculus class who got straight A’s and could play any sport better than a professional.

Taehyung froze, not quiet sure what to do. On one hand, Jungkook hadn’t seen him yet so he could easily turn around and escape the awkward conversation he would no doubt be having in the next couple seconds. On the other hand, he’d feel like a dick if he just left the boy he liked crying alone in the bathroom.

In a moment of courage Taehyung coughed making his presence known, but the look on Jungkook’s face made him wish he hadn’t.

Jungkook’s head shot up like he had just been struck by lightening. He quickly wiped his eyes on the back of his sleeve, combed his hair with his fingers, and walked right out the door passed Taehyung like he didn’t exist.

“Jungkook!” Taehyung half whispered, half yelled deciding to go after the boy as he took off down the hall. If Jungkook heard Taehyung, he had ignored him because he kept walking. It seemed as though Jungkook didn’t know where he was heading and before long they had passed all the classrooms and was now at the back of the school near the gym. Jungkook paused giving Taehyung a chance to catch up.

“Jungkook,” Taehyung repeated for the second time resting his hand on the boys shoulder and attempting to get a look at his face. “Are you okay?”

He looked up at Taehyung with puffy red eyes but he was smiling, albeit halfheartedly, “Hey, Hyung!” He attempted his usually cheery tone, but it fell flat.

“Jungkook, what’s wrong?” Taehyung’s voice was laced with concern. “If this is about what happened after the game-”

“What are you talking about? Everything’s fine.”

“You don’t have to lie to me.”

“Why don’t you mind your own business?” Jungkook shot back as he brushed passed Taehyung.

\--

The amount of rumors Taehyung heard that week was exhausting. It took every bit of his strength to wake up in the morning and return to school each day. Apparently, Jungkook’s feelings were similar as he hadn’t been to school, or at least Calculus, all week. The boy’s absence only made the rumors worse, the latest being that he had contracted an STD from Taehyung and was currently in the hospital. Taehyung couldn’t stop wondering about why Jungkook was crying in the bathroom a couple days before, not to say he didn’t have a few theories. He had started to get used to the constant whispers from his classmates and the occasional homophobic comment in the hallway but maybe Jungkook hadn’t.

Jimin had found out through some of his friends that Eunji had been the one to take the picture of him and Jungkook’s kiss. Taehyung wasn’t even surprised.

Taehyung’s birthday and the lunar eclipse finally arrived. He was seated outside in the park looking through his telescope. Jimin would be there later but he had to help his mom with something first. Taehyung didn’t mind being alone. It gave him time to think about things.

There was a crunch in the grass, “Hey Jimin you finally made it. I was just about to-“

“Hi, Taehyung.”

The voice sounded familiar but definitely not like Jimin’s, “Oh Jungkook…What are you doing here?”

“Can I see?” Jungkook said gesturing toward the telescope.

Taehyung moved to the side to make room for Jungkook. There was an awkward silence; neither of them really knew what to say.

“Taehyung listen I’m-“

“It’s fine,” he already knew what the younger boy was going to say. “Don’t worry I understand.”

“That’s not what I was-,” Jungkook was cut off once again.

“No really I get it-”

This time it was Taehyung who was stopped mid-sentence as Jungkook leaned in, putting his hands on either side of the older boy’s face.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t realize before,” Jungkook whispered before pressing his lips against Taehyung’s.

He tried his best to hold it in but he was beginning to feel his body betraying him. Taehyung broke the kiss as tears started to fall from his eyes. He felt so embarrassed but he couldn’t control the rush of emotions going through him at this moment.

“Why are you crying? I’m so sorry!” Jungkook frantically tried to wipe the tears from the older boy’s eyes, “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Taehyung shook his head, “I’m not upset I just…thought you hated me.”

“I never hated you,” Jungkook replied. “I was just confused. I never liked anyone as much as I liked you before.”

Taehyung’s face turned bright red at the compliment. He felt ridiculous for being so happy but he couldn’t help it, his heart felt like it was about to burst.

“Really hyung, I like you so much.”

And with that Taehyung pulled him in for another kiss.

“Well I was not expecting this,” the two boys looked up to see Jimin standing a couple feet away accompanied by Seokjin.

Seokjin was staring at the ground with an upset look on his face. Upon further examination, Taehyung noticed a fallen birthday cake at his feet.

“I can’t believe I dropped my best friend’s birthday cake. I spent 3 hours making that!”

Jungkook creased his eyebrows in confusion and looked at Taehyung who burst out laughing.

Taehyung had never been a big fan of birthdays but he had to admit, this one ended up being pretty good.


End file.
